Tumultuous Tuesday: No Tag Backs!

Posted on May 27, 2014 by jonfurniss

Joyce did this on her blog, so I figured that I’d probably be a bad husband if I didn’t give it a shot too!

Twenty-One Questions:

Are you named after anyone?

Yes, I’m named after Jonathan from the Bible. My brother is named David. Luckily he didn’t have to kill my dad to be king or anything! That would’ve been super terrible!

I think that we're hugging a copper penguin or something.

My brother from the same mother and me.

When was the last time you cried?

I’m not really sure, my eyes water during movies sometimes, but I’m not sure of the last time I just cried. Ugh, look at me fulfilling stereotypes, it makes me want to cry…

Do you have any kids?

No!

If you were another person, would you be a friend to yourself?

Yes, I am awesome.

But honestly, probably not. Statistically speaking, there’s something like 7.2 billion people in the world, so I probably wouldn’t even know myself, let alone be friends with me. Take that buzzkill, question!

Do you use sarcasm a lot?

Not a lot, I don’t think.

Would you ever bungee jump?

I’m not sure, I feel like I’d be more into skydiving. But if the rope looked strong enough I might give it a try, I do love adrenaline rushes.

What’s your favorite cereal?

I honestly don’t eat that much cereal. Growing up we were only allowed to have Cheerios or Rice Krispies, I liked to mix them together with slices of bananas, but refused to eat either of them separately. I was a weird kid. But favorite? I don’t know. I’m also terrible at choosing favorites, so there’s that.

What’s the first thing you notice about another person?

I’m the least visual person I know (as far as I know), I can’t remember anything in pictures. So I can’t think back to looking at a person and seeing what they look like in my mind. So maybe it’s their voice? Maybe I’m so busy being socially awkward and staring at my feet and sweating that I don’t notice anything. I’m not really sure! I’m really bad at this game.

What color are your eyes?

Brown.

Scary movies or happy endings?

Happy endings for sure! I get way too freaked out during scary movies. Gore and stuff doesn’t really gross me out too much, but if anything happens suddenly in a movie I get so jumpy. I can probably get like six inches of air just jumping from sitting down. Plus, I like happy things.

Favorite smells?

Another favorites question. Why does everyone like favorites so much? I just like things that don’t smell goods. Some of my least favorites are garbage and mushrooms cooking. I love fruity smells, I love to get tropical candles from Bath & Body Works and lighting them up.

Summer or Winter?

I used to love all the seasons equally. Then I moved back to New York and this past summer happened, it was pretty much the worst thing ever, except for all those other bad things that were definitely worse.

The kind of thing we used to do when I still liked the winter!

Computer or television?

Computer all day everyday. I also like to watch TV shows while I play games. Or think I’m watching them and miss everything, or get too engrossed in them and then die in my game.

Farthest you’ve ever been from home?

London, England. I went there when I was in fourth grade, my uncle and his family were living out there while my uncle worked there. It was awesome, I definitely want to go back to Europe sometime and enjoy it as an adult. I got to touch the Rosetta Stone at a museum, that really excited me a lot back then. I was such a nerd.

Do you have special talents?

I don’t know, I don’t really think so. I try to be funny, I like to make people laugh. It doesn’t always work.

When were you born?

11 February 1988, 0215

What are your hobbies?

StarCraft, World of Warcraft, sometimes other miscellaneous video games, reading, writing, Warhammer, Television, and the internet.

Do you have any pets?

We have an awesome cat named Misha. She’s super awesome

She’s so awesome that sometimes I have to take her to school with me.

Seriously, she’s really awesome!

What’s your favorite movie?

Enough with the favorites whoever made this ridiculous list of questions! Maybe Equilibrium, or at least I know that I told people that for a while. I really enjoy most of the Star Wars films. I like the Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit as well. Pretty much anything science fiction or fantasy I’ll watch, and there’s a good chance that I’ll enjoy it, too!

Do you have an siblings?

I have two sisters and one brother, all older than me.

Me, Laura, Julia, and Dave at my sister Laur's wedding!

Me, Laura, Julia, and Dave at my sister Laur’s awesome beach wedding!

I’ve got sibling-in-laws too, which is pretty sweet!

What do you want to do when you grow up?

I still waver on this a bit, but I’m pretty sure that I want to build robots and send them to space! Because we don’t have enough robots in space. And both robots and space are very cool.

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That seems to be all of the questions. If you have any additional questions or answers, feel free to comment them below!

Sunday Space-Out: Sunny Sundays

Posted on May 25, 2014 by jonfurniss

Nature in suburbia.

It’s quickly turning into another one of those evenings where I don’t know what to write and I’m not exactly sure why I’m forcing myself too. But I think that it’s good to stick with good habits, maybe it makes me be better at doing other good habits? I don’t know, it’s all just words and such.

Speaking of good habits, Joyce and I have been taking walks more consistently. It’s been really nice, I’ve been feeling better, getting to know my neighborhood better, plus it’s been gorgeous out lately. Although I did accidentally walk through a sprinkler the other night, but I guess that’s part of the hazard of the season.

On Wednesday we went to Sleepy Hollow, NY with Joyce’s sister and her fiance to take their “Save The Date” photos. That was the first time I had ever been there. It was a lot of fun, it was a nice small town, very Americana. We had lunch at a small Greek restaurant. I had a cheeseburger, so you know, really authentic Greek food.

This weekend has been full of BBQs, with more tomorrow, that’s been nice. I love barbecuey foods.

I hope that everyone has a good Memorial Day. Take a moment to remember all the brave men and women who have sacrificed their lives for this country.

Tumultuous Tuesday: Tired.

Posted on May 20, 2014 by jonfurniss

Today was my first caffeine free day in which I had stuff to do in a while. It was pretty tough. About halfway through my work day I was starting to suffer from a headache and regret. It was also about that time that I realized that I’ve become way too dependent on that wonderful drug.

So now it’s 9:30pm and I’m pretty tired. I don’t have to be up early at all, but I’ll probably still be in bed pretty soon. I might read a bit before bed, which will probably put me to bed faster. I’ve started to get into the Jack Reacher novels again now that I have some more time. I finished One Shot last night, which is the one that the film was based on. I almost skipped it since I had seen the movie, and while the major plot points were the same, a lot of it was very different. I’m glad that I read it.

I’m trying to think of more things to type, but my eyes keep closing and my fingers keep typoing (making typos?). So, thanks for reading, and leave a comment about something!

Sunday Space-Out:

Posted on May 18, 2014 by jonfurniss

The view from way up high in Hudson Highlands State Park

I went for a hike with my brother yesterday at Hudson Highlands State Park. We did 6.1 miles and there was about 1,000 ft climb and back down again, with some ups and downs in between. Different parts of my body have been hurting throughout the day, but I’m really glad I went. It was beautiful despite the freshly hatched bugs flying around our faces and the rain from Friday choosing the paths as a good place to stagnate. I also managed to not get sunburned, because against my laziness I managed to reapply sunscreen halfway through the trip. Usually I don’t and spend the next few days just laying there waiting to molt.

Joyce and I watched the movie Stuck in Love this evening. We both enjoyed it a lot, although I think Netflix wasn’t quite on the money with its decision to label it as a comedy. There were some funny parts, but overall it was mostly a drama. It’s about a writer, his kids who are also writers, and relationships and stuff. I really like movies about writers (see: Finding Forrester), it makes me want to write more, even though I’m not that great about it. For a long time I thought that I’d be a writer when I grew up, but I’ve never been able to be consistent with it. I’m also absolutely terrible at writing stories. Anyways, the movie was really good, there was some good acting, writing, drama, and I really enjoyed the soundtrack.

I’ve gotten back grades from three classes this semester, and although I keep furiously F5-ing, my other two professors don’t seem to get the hint. On a completely different note, I got back into Diamond League in StarCraft, so I’m pretty happy about that. The tournament I did last week actually went pretty well. I won my first two games, which were best of ones, and then won a best of three to get into the semi-finals, which I lost. But I didn’t even expect to win a single game, so top 4 felt pretty awesome to me!

Thanks for reading this evening’s disjointed though process! Feel free to leave any questions, comments, concerns, or bad jokes!

Tumultuous Tuesdays: Tater Tot Tundra

Posted on May 13, 2014 by jonfurniss

I had my last final today. I’m pretty sure that I did well on everything, but we’ll see as the grades start coming in. So far I haven’t gotten any back, so there’s been a lot of going back and refreshing the page on my school’s website.

I’m excited to have more spare time and be able to relax, but as always, I’m worried that I won’t use my time wisely, or I’ll use it in a way that I’ll regret. But I’m pretty sure that I’ve written about that in just about every post so far, so I’ll try to go somewhere different today.

Joyce and I went to Mac n Melts, today, a macaroni and cheese focused restaurant, which, if you know me, sounds like a dream come true. It was pretty tasty, but wasn’t exactly what I was expecting. I was hoping for a nice(ish) sit-down place where I could order a delicious tropical beverage and really chow down on some mac and cheese. Instead, it was the type of place where you order at the counter and go sit down at a half-booth, half just a chair table. The food itself was delicious, but the ambiance left a bit to be desired. It is good to know that I can go get take-out mac and cheese if I ever need to though.

I’ve been watching a bit more StarCraft lately, with WCS Season 2 starting to get back into full swing. I’ve been enjoying it a lot, and am hoping to start playing/streaming more consistently over the summer. I signed up for my first low-level tournament in a while, at SCV Rush, which I’ll be doing tomorrow night, so that should be fun. Maybe I’ll even win a game and not be eliminated the first round. But we’ll see!

Thanks for reading! Leave me a comment with your favorite flavor of ice cream!

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Posted on May 11, 2014 by jonfurniss

Sunday Space-Out: Mother May I?

Posted on May 11, 2014 by jonfurniss

It’s getting late, but Happy Mother’s Day just the same!

I was home-schooled by my mom through fourth grade, so I feel like I got a bit more than the usual early life influences that we get from our parents. Luckily, she was a good teacher and a good mom. When I’m at work, I sometimes I have trouble controlling one kid for half an hour, I don’t know how my mom managed to teach four of us at once.

My favorite part of being home-schooled was story time. We’d get cheese and crackers and my mom would read to us from whatever the story of the day was. That, combined with not being allowed to watch more than a half an hour of TV a day, was probably what got me really into reading. We’d sometimes take walks as a family up to the library, and once I had learned to read, I devoured books as quickly as possible. I read all The Hardy Boys, then Nancy Drew, and after that, I discovered Star Wars books.

But my mom was always reading (and still is), and while I love playing video games and watching TV shows and movies, I still have that love of reading. So I’d just like to thank my mom for not only being an awesome example of a person, a great teacher, a great wife to my dad, and for everything she did for my siblings and me, but for reading, too, because books are cool!

Also, a quick shout out to my big sister Laura, who’s doing an awesome job of raising and teaching her five kids! Happy Mother’s Day to all the moms out there! Want me to know how awesome your mom is? Or how awesome you are of a mom? Please leave a comment!

Tumultuous Tuesday: Tick-Tock

Posted on May 6, 2014 by jonfurniss

There was a time when I had hair, and our monitor had a cathode ray tube.

This semester’s slowly quickly rolling to an end. I’m looking forward to taking a step back and breathing for a bit. When there’s always something to do, time seems to find a way to keep getting later faster than you expected. I’ve done just about all of the things that I had to do today. I have one last test tomorrow, which I feel pretty prepared for, then two finals next week, which I plan on spending the weekend studying for, and then I’m done.

Then I can sleep in some, maybe sleep all day for one day. Probably catch up on some TV shows. Hopefully not laze my way away from doing anything productive. I feel like I often end up talking about the same things over and over and over again. Procrastination and motivation and laziness and productivity have been major themes in my life since I was a teenager. There was a certain point where I learned that I could often get away without doing my very best. That I could not use my time to the fullest, I could even waste time, and still do well enough. And it’s something that I wish I hadn’t learned.

Time is weird. Sometimes it feels fast, sometimes it drifts slowly by. But the one aspect that never changes is it never comes back. Despite the thousand instances of saying something or doing something and wanting that second back, it never happens. The “Why did I say that?” or “How did I drop that?” or “Why wasn’t my foot on the brake?” Wouldn’t it be nice to just have the option to roll back even just 30 seconds? That ability to not make him/her mad, or not break that priceless heirloom, or, seriously, why did that car have to be so much nicer than mine?

Beyond just those moments where accidents happen or we make mistakes, there’s time “wasted.” That time you spend thirty minutes looking for your keys that are in your pockets. That time you spend mindlessly clicking links on the internet when you’re not even enjoying it, you’re not finding anything interesting, you’re not learning anything. That time you spend playing a game for hours, and you’re not even sure if you’re having fun. Is that time wasted?

I’ve seen this quote floating around the internet for a while: “Time you enjoy wasting, was not wasted.” Most places seem to attribute it to John Lennon, while a few others have other people, but you can Google it and figure it out for yourselves. I like that quote, time is what we make of it. I tell this quote to myself when I want to play a lot of video games, or watch TV, or read some mindless books.

But it’s important to make sure that you’re really enjoying the time that your wasting. If you’re spending your time doing something just because, make sure it’s because you want to, not because you’re complacent doing it. There’s a fine line between contentment and complacent.

I definitely want to learn to use my time more wisely, to be more efficient with both my fun and my more productive activities. Thanks for reading, and as always please share any thoughts and comments!

Sunday Space-Out: May the Fourth Be With You

Posted on May 4, 2014 by jonfurniss

Happy Star Wars Day!

I’m not sure of the original source of this, but it’s awesome.

I almost skipped my second weekly post of the Sunday Space-Out, but here I come at the last minute! I’ve been keeping myself busy with school and such. As of finishing a report a few minutes ago, I am now completely done with the work for two out of five classes, so that’s a good feeling. For one of my other classes I just have to do two more homework problems and then the take-home final, and I’ll be done with that, too.

I’m very much looking forward to more free time for sleeping, and relaxing, and playing video games, and all that productive stuff I plan on doing over the summer, too…

So May happened. It keeps becoming new months, I’m getting dizzy from all of the days whizzing by!

The Long Island Marathon happened today, and I saw some people running it. It made me think about maybe doing it next year. It’s been just over three years since the last half-marathon I “ran” (Spoiler Alert: I jogged the first sevenish miles and half-walked, half-jogged, half-stumbled the rest of the way. But at least I gave it 150%), and it’s been just over three years since I vowed never to do one of those again. Of course, that one I ran six years after I vowed never to run one again, so I’m clearly not very good at keeping my word. Maybe if I can do a full-marathon I’ll be able to stop. Or maybe five years after that I’ll think I can do an iron-man or something ridiculous like that. But probably not.

I just really like doing things. I wish that there was a real life achievement point system, like in video games. My favorite thing to do in World of Warcraft is make that shiny little banner pop up that said I did something. I’d love for something like that to happen when I do things in real life. But even without that, I really just love collecting experiences and achievements. I can’t wait for in just over a month when I’ll be able to add mountain-climber to my achievement list, I’m pretty excited about that.

I’m going to go watch some Khan Academy videos before I fall asleep so that I can maybe know all of the things I need to.

Thanks for reading! Feel free to share with me some of the achievements you’re proud of but usually too humble to brag about in the comments!

The Jon Furniss

Monthly Archives: May 2014